“Mistress, just what are you looking for?” Tao Qin watched as Shi Sheng entered the library like a bandit entering a village, rummaging through the bookshelves.
How was Shi Sheng supposed to know what she was looking for? She was just trying her luck by searching randomly and seeing if she could find anything of use.
‘Eh? This drawing actually isn’t ugly.’
“Mistress...” Tao Qin’s face flushed bright red and she hurriedly blocked the pictures from her vision with her hands. “Why are...these here?”
‘This is an academy, why would there be something so...improper here? And you’re even looking at it with such a calm expression...’Shi Sheng shook the book before placing it in Tao Qin’s hands. “Bring it back.”
“Ah? This...” ‘Why would you want to take this type of book back?’
Shi Sheng managed to find several more non-PG13 books from this pile. It seemed someone had managed to sneak some in amongst the rest.
Shi Sheng took the ones that had better style and gave them to Tao Qin to hold.
“Mistress... Let’s hurry up and get out of here.” Perhaps due to it being her first time doing something like this, Tao Qin’s voice was beginning to shake.
Pages could be heard rustling as Shi Sheng flipped through and scanned each book before abandoning them.
‘Don’t understand. Can’t read this one. Who the hell wrote this? It looks like dog scratchings!’Shi Sheng tossed the book aside and leaned against a shelf. ‘There are so many books here—how long am I going to have to search to find the one I need? Also, where is Weiyang Palace exactly?’
“Is there really not a Weiyang Palace?” Shi Sheng suddenly asked.
Tao Qin shook her head. “Really, Mistress. Though I suppose it could’ve existed in the past and just had its name changed.”
‘At least, I’ve never heard of a Weiyang Palace ever since I entered. Why is Mistress asking about this all of a sudden?’
Shi Sheng scratched her head as she leaned against a bookshelf, pondering.
Her gaze suddenly changed and she lifted a finger against her mouth, indicating to Tao Qin to stay quiet.
All the hairs on Tao Qin’s body stood on end. ‘Someone’s here! If they see Mistress... Shit shit shit! Mistress, where are you going?!’
Shi Sheng gestured for her to stay silent and quickly rounded a shelf, vanishing from Tao Qin’s sight.
There was silence for a long time. Just as she was beginning to panic, she suddenly heard a commotion.
Tao Qin took off running in the direction of the noise.
After passing several shelves, Tao Qin saw them and froze. Shi Sheng was currently pressed up against a shelf by a man. One of his hands was holding her wrist, making sure she couldn’t move her sword.
The noise from before should’ve been from the sword sweeping the books on the shelves to the floor.
The two were currently in such an ambiguous position, Tao Qin didn’t even want to look at them. Though the truth was that Shi Sheng had a dagger against the man’s abdomen, out of Tao Qin’s sight.
“Let go.” Shi Sheng spoke calmly.
The man’s gentle gaze swept past Shi Sheng’s face. “Milady attacked me first—why should I be the one to let go?”
“Why would I have attacked you if you weren’t acting so shifty?” ‘This guy is actually pretty good at fighting.
*flips table*! This weak ass body! If I don’t sneak attack, then I can only lose in a straight up fight! I really have to thank the fact that Yuwen Xun’s so paranoid he didn’t have his people charge in...’
“Why would I be acting shifty if I hadn’t seen Milady sneak in through the window?”
‘...Fuck! So it’s still my(lz) fault?!’
“I(lz) said let go!” Shi Sheng thrust her dagger towards him.
The man’s lips raised slightly in a perfect arc.
Shi Sheng ground her teeth. ‘Seduction is useless against me(lz)! Don’t think I’ll(lz) show mercy just because you look good!’
“Hss—” The man released Shi Sheng. ‘She really dares to stab...’
Shi Sheng hadn’t been gentle—the dagger had already sunk in a few centimetres and had definitely left quite a mark on his body.
Fresh blood soaked through his white clothes, as eye-catching as red plum blossoms dotting white snow.
“What were you tailing me(lz) for?” Having won her freedom, Shi Sheng immediately pointed her sword at the man.
‘I think this guy was the one I saw beside Yuwen Xun’s sedan the other day. He wasn’t in the plot despite being so good-looking... And he’s not in Zhuang Qiong’s memories either... Could it be he’s the final boss?’
After the last world’s experience, Shi Sheng was very suspicious.
The man pressed against his abdomen and huffed out slightly. “Does Milady have to point such a dangerous weapon at me?”
“Don’t talk so mu—fuck!” Shi Sheng’s wrist was captured once more. Their positions switched such that the man had her pinned against the wall. He swiftly grabbed her other hand and pulled both above her head, holding them up there.
‘Aren’t ambushes my(lz) thing?! Fucking copycat[1]!’
Shi Sheng’s brain was currently filled with the thought of her ‘copyright’ having been infringed. Added to the fact that said person was pressing on her, she really felt like hacking someone right now.
Tao Qin had already been scared stiff, so she was of no help.
The man exhaled, causing his warm breath to brush past Shi Sheng’s face. “Milady mustn’t be so violent—it isn’t an appealing quality.”
“Did I ask for you to like it? How’s it any of your business?!” Shi Sheng glared at him. “The hell are you pressing me(lz) for?! You wanna molest me(lz)?!”
Though the man appeared to be a very gentle person, his eyes appearing like a pool one could lose themselves in, all Shi Sheng saw was a pool filled with hidden danger.
‘This man’s very dangerous! Like Chu Tang[2] levels of dangerous! Only that guy gave me this impression before.’
“If Milady doesn’t mind, then I am certainly willing to accommodate.” The man breathed out slightly next to her ear.
‘Willing your fucking arse! I’m(bbb) not willing to stick around such a dangerous person! Not at all!’
Shi Sheng made to kick the man, but it seemed like he had been waiting for this, for he pressed her down with his own legs. This movement caused the two to be pressed even closer.
The thick stench of blood wafted into Shi Sheng’s nostrils.
“What do you want?!” Shi Sheng took a deep breath. ‘Let’s convince him to release me first. And then hack him to death. Even if he’s Feng Ci, I’m still hacking him!’
She wasn’t willing to hang around people who were too smart; the longer her IQ was put under pressure, the higher the likelihood of her turning into a retard.
“I hold no malice.”
“You’re saying that after doing this? Is anything short of stabbing me ‘not malice’?” Shi Sheng’s temper flared. ‘System! Get out here! I wanna discuss those several GBs worth of porn you have in that corner of your database!’
[......] ‘Host, what are you talking about? Why do I not understand what you mean? The signal doesn’t seem very good, let’s shut down and restart...’
“Milady is so beautiful, how could I bear to let you die?”
‘Then the hell do you think you’re doing?’
The man suddenly leaned towards her, his cool lips brushing past her cheek to whisper into her ear with a smile, “Ming Jin. My name. Remember it.”
‘And I’m(lz) tomorrow[3]!’
Having Shi Sheng’s killer glare fixed on him, Ming Jin released her and swiftly darted towards the stairs leading back down to the first floor.
Shi Sheng chucked her sword at him, but Ming Jin agilely dodged and reached his elegant fingers out, actually managing to catch it.
‘He caught it... The...fuck! Is this guy practising some form of dark magic?! He actually dared to catch blades with his bare hands[4]! Pei! Catch swords!’
“Milady has given me quite a good sword—I’ll take good care of it.” Ming Jin quickly descended the stairs with her sword, disappearing in the rows of bookshelves.
Shi Sheng, “...” ‘My(lz) sword!’
[1] In the raws, it’s more of a copy dog lol. Usually used for people who stole other people’s works and didn’t credit the original author.
[2] A reminder: our ML in arc 1.
[3] Ming Jin’s name is 明衿. Tomorrow is pronounced ‘ming tian’. Today is pronounced ‘jin tian’. So Shi Sheng’s switched words around and bit, being like ‘I don’t give a shit whether your name’s Today or Tomorrow!’
[4] I’m not really sure about this since from what I could garner, it’s referencing some guys ability to chuck swords at people and they’d be ‘forced’ to catch it with their bare hands. As you can probably guess, it doesn’t go so well for them.
